Premier League referees are the highest paid across top 5 European leagues. Top referee in premier league like Mark Clattenburg can earn as much as £100,000 a year with pro contract with referees panel which earns him guaranteed £38,500 a year in retainer fee plus £1,100 per match. We take in-depth look at how referees across all top 5 european leagues are compensated.
We all know that Footballers in top european leagues are paid way over the top in weekly wages but the referees in premier league and some other big leagues around europe are paid in peanuts compared to footballers. In premier league referees pay scale is different than other european leagues. In england referees became professional when “PROFESSIONAL GAME MATCH OFFICIALS BOARD (PGMOB)” was formed who has 15 to 20 referees in the selected panel for every premier league season. The list of referees in current panel can be found on our List of Premier League Referees 2016-17. But how much do the refs in premier league get paid ? lets take a look.
Average Salaries of Premier League Referees 2016-2017:
All the referee in “premier league referees panel” for a season get a retainer fee of £38,500 to £42,000 a year depending on the experience plus a standard £1,150 match fee for every game they officiate throughout the season. So on the course of a single season a referee can officiate anywhere between 10 to 35 premier league.
PGMOB always track referees performance throughout every game and season and the best performing referees get more games under their belt ultimately resulting more yearly income. here are some average numbers of referee salaries.
| DETAILS | MONEY |
| Basic Yearly Retainer Fee (depends on experience) | £38,500 to £42,000 |
| Match Fee (per game) | £1,150 |
| Average Yearly Income | £70,000 |
| Assistant Referee Salaries (turned full-time pros from 2016-17) | £600 per match plus retainer fee |
| Championship Referee | £600 per match |
Premier League referees panel turned professional in 2001 and at that time a retainer free of around £30,000 was paid to the referees. But since 2010 with every referee selected in the panel signs one year contract which see him get a basic retainer free plus the match fee for every game he officiate. Referees in Championship get £600 per match.
Howard Webb Made around £120,000 in 2013-14 season as he officiated the most games in the season while some of the other top referees in England also notched up between £90,000 to £100,000, while other referees average income was around £60,000 to £70,000 last year.
| Referee | Referee | Yearly Income (approximately) |
| 1 | Martin Atkinson | £120,000 (elite panel) |
| 2 | Mark Clattenburg | £120,000 (elite panel) |
| 3 | Mike Dean | £100,000 |
| 4 | Stuart Attwell | £65,000 basic salary + match fee of 1,000 per game |
| 5 | Kevin Friend | £65,000 basic salary + match fee of 1,000 per game |
| 6 | Roger East | £65,000 basic salary + match fee of 1,000 per game |
| 7 | Robert Madley | £65,000 basic salary |
| 8 | Andre Marriner | £65,000 basic salary |
| 9 | Lee Mason | £65,000 basic salary |
| 10 | Jonathan Moss | £65,000 basic salary |
| 11 | Michael Oliver | £65,000 basic salary |
| 12 | Anthony Taylor | £65,000 basic salary |
Referee Salaries In Europe’s Top 6 Leagues:
In most of other countries referees dont get the retainer fee but they are paid handsomely in terms of match fee, In La Liga refs are getting paid as much as €6000 per match and some of the top refs make over €150,000 a year. here is a table showing referee salary trends in other big leagues.
| COUNTRY | REFEREE MATCH FEE (per match) | ASSISTANT REFEREES (per match) |
| ENGLAND | £1,170 (per match) plus retainer fee of £38,500 a year | £600 per match plus baisc retainer fee |
| SPAIN | £4,700 (€6,000) | £1550 |
| GERMANY | £2,800 (€3,600) | £1400 |
| ITALY | £2,819 (€3,400) | £1300 |
| FRANCE | £2,650 (€2,751) | |
| PORTUGAL | £925 (€1,188) | £465 |